Destiny
by hellmouth princess
Summary: Set after the Season one buffy episode 'Prophecy Girl', Hermione has a change of destiny. Now Complete
1. 1: The one in England

Title: Destiny  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Hermione's dream is all from the episode 'prophecy girl'  
  
Spoilers: Set soon after 'The order of the Phoenix' and after the end of season one Buffy, major spoilers for 'prophecy girl'  
  
Summary: Hermione has a change of destiny after the events of the episode 'Prophecy Girl'

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Chapter One: The one in England  
  
Destiny. Funny thing really. The idea that your whole life was mapped out before you were even born. The logical side of me doesn't want to believe it, but the logical side isn't reigning here. I have a destiny. It all started the night I had that dream.  
  
A small blonde girl in a beautiful white dress and a black leather jacket walked through the shadows holding a crossbow a young boy pointed down and then left in silence. The girl walked into a room lit by hundreds of candles  
  
"Welcome" said a male voice. It seemed to be coming from all around her.  
  
"Thanks for having me" said the girl  
  
An ugly man stepped into the light to look at her.  
  
"Y'know, you really oughtta talk to your contractor. Looks like you got some water damage" said the girl  
  
"Oh, good" said the man "The feeble banter portion of the fight. Why don't we just cut to the...  
  
The girl spun around and launched a bolt in the direction of his voice. With lightning reflexes the man caught it in mid-flight right in front of him at chest level. The girl quickly reloads the bow.  
  
"Nice shot" he said "You're not going to kill me with that thing."  
  
"Don't be so sure" said the girl  
  
"You still don't understand your part in all this, do you? You are not the hunter. You are the lamb"  
  
The girl slowly walked around, searching for her opponent. She came upon a rotten body but continued her search.  
  
"You know, for someone who's all powerful, you sure do like to hide" she called out  
  
"I'm waiting for you. I want this moment to last" he called back  
  
"Well, I don't"  
  
She searched for a few moments longer, then the man appeared next right behind her.  
  
"I understand"  
  
She turned around and the man knocked the crossbow out of her hands and grabbed her neck She managed to knock his hand away and started to run but he held his hand out towards her and she froze, caught by some unseen power. She looked back at him and he walked towards her. He removed her jacket the girls breathing had grown heavy with her fear.  
  
"You tried. It was noble of you. You heard the prophecy that I was about to break free and you came to stop me. But prophecies are tricky creatures. They don't tell you everything" he lowered his voice to a whisper "You're the one that sets me free! If you hadn't come, I couldn't go. Think about that"  
  
The girl couldn't move she knew she was about to die and there was nothing she could do to stop it the man bent down and bit her neck drinking her blood down, but not draining her fully.  
  
"Oh, God! The power!"  
  
The girl fell as he let go of her.  
  
"And by the way" he said as she fell face down in a pool of water. "I like your dress"  
  
She had woken with a start. Tears in her eyes at seeing the blonde girl fall. She had felt some connection with that girl and when she woke she couldn't push it all away as just a dream.  
  
I had that dream again, several times actually. Sometimes I was just a spectator, not even there, just seeing it all unable to help. Other times I was the blonde girl. I felt her confidence fade to fear and at the last minute that fear become acceptance when I knew I was going to die. It was like a relief, getting to rest at last.  
  
I wasn't sleeping well but it went unnoticed with my friends. They'd dealt with too much tragedy already. The first time I had the dream it was nearing the end of term anyway. Two weeks later I was home from the boarding school I had spent the year at. My parents did notice a change in me, but they put it down to stress from exams and decided if I needed to talk about anything with them I would when I was ready.  
  
I was out walking one day. I did this a lot, trying to clear my head and enjoying being alone after spending so much time surrounded by other people. I love my school but it's hard to get any time for yourself. Caught up in my thoughts I walked into something. "Sorry" I said to the man in the tweed suit. I tried to keep on walking but he stepped into my path. "Miss Granger, I've been looking for you" he said.  
  
I froze. How did this man know my names? Why would he be looking for me? I wondered if he was a deatheater. Maybe he wanted to use me as leverage to get to the people they really wanted. The man looked entirely too muggle though. He was in his late forties with greying hair, and the tweed suit looked like a second skin. He looked too comfortable in it, not like he should have been wearing robes. Either way I didn't trust him, so when he asked. "Can we go somewhere to talk more privately?" I turned and ran.  
  
I blame hanging around with Harry for making me so paranoid, or maybe I'm finally learning Professor Moody's constant vigilance. Or it could be that I was a defenceless sixteen year old girl out alone and he was an older man who seemed to know me even though I didn't know him and asked to talk to me privately. In other words maybe it was common sense kicking in.  
  
Whatever the reason behind it I turned and ran, not stopping until I got home. That was actually a little strange in itself. I don't run a lot and home was quite far away, but I was only a little tired.  
  
I thought about telling my parents about the man but decided not to. I didn't want to worry anyone and if it was magical related they wouldn't be able to do anything anyway. The following day I heard from the man again. I got a letter in the post. I don't usually get things in the muggle post; most of my mail comes via owl, so I was suspicious straight away. I opened the envelope to find a simple handwritten note inside. It read:  
  
Dear Miss Granger, Pleas meet me today at 'Sticks and Scones' on olive street at one. I understand your hesitation yesterday but I promise that I mean you no harm. I hope this public meeting place will make you feel safer because this matter is of the utmost importance. Yours Sincerely Adrian Grant  
  
I almost laughed that he described me turning and running as fast as I could because he knew my name as 'hesitation'.  
  
"What's that?" asked my mum from the opposite side of the breakfast table.  
  
I shoved the letter in the back pocket of my jeans. "It's from a friend at school, another muggle born" as soon as I started lying I knew I was going to go. "She's visiting some relatives near here and wants to meet me somewhere in town at one" I continued, wondering when I had got so good at lying. Probably form hanging around Ginny, lies just seemed to come to her so easily. "You don't mind if I go do you?"  
  
"No" she said. "Have fun"  
  
At one I arrived at the small busy café. Adrian Grant was already there so I went and sat in the chair opposite him, making sure my wand was easily accessible, if the worst should happen I could defend myself.  
  
"Thank you for meeting me her Miss Granger" he began. I just nodded, not really knowing what to say. He continued. "I'm aware of your, special gifts, and of course, the school you attend, so I trust that you're aware of the existence of vampires and other demons"  
  
The place was noisy and everybody was busy with their own conversations, so nobody heard what he was saying in a quiet voice but me. My first thought was to leave. I was worried that he knew I was a witch but curiosity kept me in my chair. I just nodded again. Which he again took as a sign to continue.  
  
"Have you ever heard of the slayer?" he asked. "Possibly referred to as the vampire slayer?"  
  
"No" I replied.  
  
He nodded. "I didn't think you would have. Well, in every generation there is a Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer. When one slayer dies another rises. Each slayer is aided by a watcher. A mentor who will train and guide her"  
  
I'm often described as clever, more often than that I'm described as a know it all. On the whole that's pretty true, so when I said "I don't understand" it wasn't because I didn't realise what he was saying, it was simply because I didn't accept what he was saying. I didn't want to.  
  
"The slayer is a warrior for good. She has increased strength, equal to that of a vampire, heightened senses, agility speed, accelerated healing. She uses these gifts to fight the forces of darkness" he explained, thinking I didn't understand the concept of the slayer.  
  
"No" I said. "I don't understand what all this has to so with me" My mind was racing with every possible explanation other than the obvious one which I refused to believe. Maybe this man wanted me to be watcher, a mentor to a slayer. Perhaps he wanted me to do a spell to track the slayer.  
  
"Hermione. You are the slayer" he said shattering all my hopes that it could have been anything else.  
  
And there it was. My destiny, all because a petite blonde girl half way across the world drowned in a pool of water. Buffy died and now it's my turn to fight

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An: I am either going to leave this fic as a one shot or carry it on depending on how people like it.  
  
If I continue then it will probably be Buffy and Hermione fighting their own battles for a while, but dreaming each others. Buffy will not realise Hermione exists and Hermione will think Buffy died for good before she became slayer.  
  
So what do you think? Should I continue? Please review. 


	2. 2: The one in America

Chapter Two-The one in America  
  
I woke with a start. I'd just had another dream about that girl. The girls with brown bushy hair who went to a school to learn magic. These dreams were all strange, but this one even more so. Those words rang in my head. "Hermione, you are the slayer"  
  
I would say Hermione was a weird name but my name's Buffy so I'm hardly one to talk. This is the first time I've heard her name. All the other dreams were distant and fuzzy. This one was clearer. I saw her and a man sitting in a café. The man was all English tea and tweed, he screamed watcher. The girl was suspicious; she wasn't talking just listening as the watcher explained her destiny. I saw all the emotions playing across her face. I remembered that feelings. Trying to find any other explanation but knowing it's the truth.  
  
Denial is the first stage. It's always the first stage. It think that's followed by rebellion, then the rebellion is ended by a sense of responsibility and then comes the period of trying too fit slaying with your normal life. Finally there's the acceptance. The acceptance that we all fight until we die. A slayer can't live a normal life. I think the watchers council are still waiting for me to reach that stage, but I'm not planning it for the near future.  
  
Of course those stages only apply to the slayers who weren't recognised as potentials. I've been asking Giles a lot about slayers lately. I don't know why, I've just been curious, wanting to know more about my calling.  
  
According to Giles I'm one of the lucky ones. I grew up with my parents. Normally the council will get witches to scry for girls with the potential to become slayers. Then they take those girls away from their families and train them as fighters. If they get called they're prepared. If they don't get called by eighteen then they probably never will be. It's very rare for a slayer to get killed after eighteen. Those girls either become watchers or just leave.  
  
I don't know who I feel more sorry for, the ones who spend their whole lives preparing to be something they'll never become, or the few girls who do become it. The slayers.  
  
I asked Giles about slayer dreams as well. He said prophetic dreams aren't a standard slayer gift, but they're not uncommon. Most dreams are cryptic warnings about the future that usually don't make sense until after the events have taken place. Sometimes slayers dream about one another though. The most common thing is for a slayer to dream the death of her predecessor, often as it happens or soon after, slayers may also dream the deaths of other slayers. Usually the more powerful ones.  
  
It's less common, but not unheard of for a slayer to dream the calling of other slayers or powerful moments in their lives.  
  
This all makes me wonder about Hermione. I seem to be dreaming her everyday life before she even knew she was a slayer. I think this may have nothing to do with me being a slayer and everything to do with me being human. Maybe this is all just me wanting to believe I'm not alone. The confusion I see in my dreams in Hermione's eyes is mirrored so often in my own.  
  
It's stupid really, because I am alone. I'm supposed to fight alone. I have my friends but they don't really count, they fight because they want to. I don't have that choice. For me it's destiny.  
  
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AN: Writing this chapter doesn't mean I'm definitely going to make this a series yet. I'm still thinking of leaving it here. I'm really confused with this because I like this fic how it is, but I also have loads of ideas of how to continue it and I don't know which I want to do. 


	3. 3: Training

Ok, first off, sorry I haven't posted anything in a while, I've written loads actually, it's just all kinda crap and not going anywhere. I know I should be finishing Lost or Runaways not starting anything new but technically this isn't new, and it's been running around my head for ages so I had to just get it out/

As the Buffy storyline follows Season Two on the whole, I may use Buffy chapters to tell Hermione stories through her dreams. If that makes sense, 'cause you can just go watch season two. This story is more about Hermione for now.

Of course that's just the preliminary notices; I may change my mind and start screwing everything up by tomorrow!

So enjoy, and please review.

Chapter Three: Training

I've never really been a sporty person. I never got into Quidditch and at primary school I just tended to be bad at sports. I came last in races and I never even seemed to be able to hit a ball.

You wouldn't believe that if you saw me now. It's funny, this summer I had planned to read through some school books in preparation for next year but I haven't had time to do that yet. Ron and Harry would laugh at that, four weeks in to the summer holidays and the only books I've picked up had nothing to do with school. Well they might help in Defence against the dark arts a little but I doubt it.

That hasn't even been the focus of my lately. After all there's no point knowing how to kill a demon if you can't get near enough to do it. No, for once I've had to accept that books don't come first. Instead I've been learning how to fight.

The first training session wasn't all that fun. I was still shell shocked from discovering I was the slayer. I wasn't even sure if I believed it. So how does my watcher decide to prove it to me? Simple. I walked into the training room, a little apprehensive about meeting this guy alone and he threw a knife at my head. I caught it just in front of my face.

"What the bloody hell did you do that for?" I shouted throwing the knife at the opposite wall. I usually don't condone swearing but in my defence the man did throw a knife at my head. I decided the situation warranted the reaction.

"You caught the knife" he said as though trying to murder people was no big deal. "Any doubts you're the slayer now?"

I was so caught up in the fact that he had just thrown a knife at my head that I hardly noticed I had caught it. I had just been working on instinct. I reacted, and it was a good thing, you don't have to be clever to know having a knife thrown at your head would be a painful way to die.

Adrian (as he insisted I call him) started by asking me what I would do if I came across a vampire.

"Run?" I tried.

"No"

"Um, well fire kills them so if I had my wand I would…"

"You don't have your wand" he interrupted.

"Lately I always have my wand" I argued.

"Hermione, you are the slayer" he told me. "You have to stop thinking like a witch and start thinking like a slayer"

"I've been a witch five years. I've been a slayer for five minutes. I can't help thinking for a magical option first"

"Why didn't you use a spell to stop the knife?" he asked. "If you have your wand you could have frozen it. If that knife had hit you you'd be dead"

"I didn't have time" I told him, aware I was losing this argument.

"But you caught it in time. Your slayer instincts reigned. Listen to them"

Then we came to an understanding when he threatened to snap my wand in half. Since then I've not been talking about magic around him.

Adrian explained to me that the reason I wasn't trained before now, the reason I'm so behind is because I'm a witch. I was detected as a potential slayer when I was very young, but I was also detected as a witch. It turns out the Ministry of Magic are wilfully blind (they're good at that), to the concept of the slayer and therefore highly object to the Watchers Council attempting to train witches to become mythical creatures, muggle born or not. From what I can make out it's happened before and it ended up messy.

So they all just stay out of each others way. The Ministry pretends the Council doesn't exist and the council just keep their fingers crossed that the magically gifted potentials don't get called as slayers.

But lucky me. I did get called. So I have a lot of catching up to do. It amazes me how natural it all feels. Unless you count that one time I hit Malfoy I'm not a violent person and as I said before I'm not a sporty person. But here doing this, it's just natural. I seem to spend all day training but have no problems with that, it kinda feels good.

Not as good as slaying for real feels though. It was two weeks of training before I was actually allowed out, armed only with a few stakes. I've trained with other weapons but I'm still learning to use them all still, I'm not as confident with them yet.

Adrian watched my fight from the sidelines. Well he actually does that with all my fights. He's always there when I patrol and he's always got some comment to make. He generally follows the negative with something positive though, which stops me going mad. Patrol can be pretty uneventful though; there aren't a whole lot of vampires and demons locally.

My first slay was a fledgling, fresh out of the grave. The only thing that stopped the fight being easy was my nerves, but you'd be scared too if you were in my place.

I was perched on a gravestone waiting for the guy two foot forward and six foot under to rise and my heart was beating faster than I thought humanly possibly. I tried telling myself all those logical things like I have the strength, I had the skill, he was as new to this as I was and I could surprise him. Logic didn't work. I was terrified, I kept thinking, maybe I wasn't strong enough, maybe I hadn't had enough training, and of course there was still that part of my mind that said maybe I'm not the slayer.

Then the vamp rose, and he attacked. We fought and there is nothing that can describe it. For a moment I thought I'd lost when he threw me on the floor and came down for the kill, but then I managed to stake him and it was all over and I got a covered in dust, and by the way, vampire dust is pretty disgusting, especially when you get it in your hair.

"Vampires are like animals" Adrian told me as he offered me his hand and pulled me up from the ground. "They can smell fear. Your fear was slowing you down"

Well that dampened my 'I just killed my first vampire' happy mood; it was almost destroyed until he added;

"But a lot of slayers tend to miss the heart the first time so you weren't doing too badly" he smiled at me.

That first fight destroyed all my doubts that I could be anything but the slayer. It was all instinct, the moves I had been taught came out when I needed them to, I knew exactly when to duck when to block. It was exhilarating and it was a feeling in my blood, the slayer calling to me. That's the way all my fights feel now.

I wonder if Buffy felt like this. I know Buffy was the name of the blonde girl because I asked Adrian. She was the last slayer and she died drowning the way I saw it. It's weird though; I had another dream about her the other night. A completely different one. She was with a man, her father I think, and they were shoe shopping. It wasn't as vivid as the other dreams. I don't think this one is anything real, I think this is just what I'd like her to be doing right now, something normal and happy. The reality of it is, she's dead. She has to be for me to be the slayer, that's how it works, one dies another rises.

Sorry it's kinda short, and it took forever to get out, but I'm working on the next one already and trying to plan the whole thing out so I know where its going. I'm planning to keep it fairly short, but I'm also kinda planning a sequel because if things go to plan then buffy and hermione are not going to meet in this story. But as I said, I could have changed my mind by tomorrow

Last notice I promise. I've had some comments on my spelling and grammer so if anybody wanted to offer it would be great if they could check through the new chapters for this and my other fics for any mistakes before I post. Please E-mail me if you can help.


	4. 4: Decisions

That wasn't too long between chapters was it? I'm quite impressed. I don't think this story should take forever, I've written most of all the chapters, it's just a matter of filling a few gaps. I'm not making any promises though; I tend to take forever with the simplest of stuff.

Anyway, enjoy, and review.

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Chapter Four

Adrian doesn't want me to go back to school. More to the point the council doesn't want me to go back to school.

I'm in London right now. I told my parents I was meeting Harry and Ron and we were going to stay in the Leaky Cauldron with his family so we could spend the last two weeks of the holidays together. It was only a half lie really. They're coming next week so for now I'm staying in a muggle hotel with Adrian down the hall.

There's so much more to slay in a city like this. There are more vampires, more nests; they even have demon bars in London, that's something they definitely don't have in the town where I live.

Slaying is in my blood. I am the slayer and I need to keep doing it, I need to keep doing it, but I don't know if I'm willing to give up school yet. I know that staying at Hogwarts brings about so many complications. Where would I slay? How would I train? What would Adrian do? These slayers life must always be kept a secret , so not only would I be hiding it from everyone at school, I would be hiding it from Ron and Harry, I could never tell my two best friends that I was the slayer.

Adrian has made his wishes and the council's wishes very clear. They want me to leave school and become a full time slayer, spending all my time training and slaying. I could be travelling; I'd get to slay worldwide, learning about foreign cultures and all sorts. It would be a very educational experience. I would also be doing good, fighting the forces of darkness and saving the world. I wouldn't be finishing at Hogwarts, but tutored privately, mostly by Adrian in ancient languages, geography, history, anything I need to know. I wouldn't be able to tell my friends where I was going or why though.

It sounds good but I don't know. It's just; school isn't just what I do. It's who I am. How can I accept that it suddenly means nothing? But that's the truth isn't it. School is nothing anymore. If I'm lucky enough to survive sixth and seventh year then what? Go to university and probably die before graduation? Even if, and this is a big if, but even if I survive university then my days would be severely numbered, I could try struggling with a job and slaying, I could keep trying to chase after this normal life, but I'd always be hiding something.

Suddenly trying to convince myself that school comes first is quite hard.

My destiny is to die young, to go out fighting, but not to be remembered. I'll die I'll be replaced; the world won't know the difference.

I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do in the future. I guess all that careers research was a waste of time. I thought about being an auror, it would have been exciting as well as doing some good in the world. Right now I'd settle for a boring desk job. Maybe I could write reports on cauldron bottoms and let my boss get my name wrong all the time or something boring like that.

I love being the slayer; I love the feeling I get when I'm outnumbered in a fight but still win with ease, when I'm fighting a vamp twice my size and we both know he'll be dust before dawn. It's just never sunk in that this is my life. I'm not going to grow up and have a career and a husband and a family. I probably won't even grow up.

That doesn't mean I'm ready to give up just yet though. If I leave school I'll just live and die the slayer. The nameless, faceless slayer, another one in a long line. Staying at school lets me be Hermione a little while longer, even if that has to be Hermione Granger, Vampire Slayer. I can be with my friends, continue to learn magic.

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This chapter was all Hermione's feelings and stuff so it was probably quite boring, but the next chapter is basically all narrative and we have one of my very bad fight scenes with blood and death and the whole works.


	5. 5: Kakistos

Sorry it's taken forever, I haven't bin writing anything lately, bad year really. Might be able to finish this story soon though.

This chapter is all about Hermione, but it is told by Buffy from her dreams; this is just because I wanted to do it in third person and this way allows me to it. Although somewhere not to far in it stops sounding like Buffy giving a narrative and just sounds like a plain old third person narrative.

Btw, there's a big fight scene. I suck at fight scenes, don't expect anything good.

Chapter Five: Kakistos

My dreams about Hermione have been really intense lately. I mentioned the dreams to Giles again because they're getting more frequent, he thinks I'm probably supposed to learn something. I'm keeping a dream journal, which I write in as soon as I wake up. He reckons this slayer I'm dreaming probably died at the hands of some demon that I'll have to face. The thing is, I had a dream all about how confused she was about whether or not to go back to school. I'm not sure, but I think it has something to do with her being a witch. It means the council can't tell her what to do so much because some other body will jump in and start a big dispute.

The last dream was really bad though. Hermione was staying in this weird old hotel with two school friends. She was sharing a room with a red haired girl named Ginny. The hotel was swarming with these magical police guys who were all there to protect Hermione's moody friend.

This one night Hermione had to sneak out to meet her watcher and go patrolling. She had to use all her slayer stealth to get passed all these people patrolling the tiny hotel. She met her watcher and they set off to a nest they'd been planning to hit. Everything was going fine. She dusted about four vamps then they set off to patrol a local cemetery.

That was when things got bad. All of a sudden they were surrounded by about six vamps; the leader was a really ugly guy with cloven feet.

"You must be the slayer" he said, the evil grin doing nothing for the already in need of plastic surgery face.

"You must be the slayee" she replied with a confidence she really didn't have. She still had adrenaline pumping from her last fight, but it was starting to drain, leaving her with enough energy to fight the few newly risen fledgling she's been expecting, but not much more.

"You all try to be so witty" he said. "But the dying breath is always a plea for mercy"

"Kakistos" said the watcher as realisation spread across his face.

"You've heard of me watcher?" asked the vampire

"Kakistos, Greek for worst of the worst. A vampire so old that his hands and feet are cloven, killed many slayers for sport." replied the watcher, trying not to look as afraid as he felt.

"You didn't have to say that last bit." hissed Hermione, fear was setting in as she took in her odds, she wasn't ready for this, but she wasn't going to give up without a fight.

"Enough talk, I haven't tasted slayers blood in a while." said Kakistos. Three of his minions lunged forwards towards the slayer while the other two grabbed the watcher.

Hermione had her stake out at the ready. She blocked a punch from the first and dusted him with ease. The second vamp grabbed her from behind, so she threw her head back into his face, breaking his nose. He stumbled back and the third vampire went to kick her. She exchanged some kicks and punches with the vampire before managing to stake him. The vampire whose nose she'd broken threw her onto the floor and came down to bite her. She had dropped her only stake as she went down. She tried to reach out for it but couldn't. She tried holding the vamp back but knew she had to something. Then she remembered her wand. She pulled it out of her jeans pocket and thrust it into the vampire's chest.

She grabbed her stake, flipped herself up and dusted herself down, happy about having killed half the vampires already.

"Oh Slayer?" called a voice from behind. She spun to see Kakistos with an evil grin on his face and a nasty looking knife in his hand. "I hope you weren't too attached to the watcher" he said before sticking the knife into Adrian's stomach.

"Adrian!" said Hermione as she came forward in a panic.

"Stay where you are," commanded Kakistos, "Or your watcher might get hurt, more"

Hermione stood still, terrified. "Hermione, get out of here" called her watcher. She just stood there, she knew if she ran they would kill Adrian, but if she tried to attack they would kill him too. In fact they might just kill her as well. So she stood there working through her options.

She thought about the odds, she had on her, one stake; her wand which she could only use as another stake; a bottle of holy water and a cross. She took a deep breath then threw the bottle of holy water at one of the vampires, she staked him in his confusion, shoving the cross in the other vampires face. He growled as it touched his face. Hermione wasn't quick enough to dodge a punch from him; she fell back to the floor but swept his feet out from under him while she was down. She staked him and turned to Kakistos.

Kakistos dropped his knife as he vamped out, he growled in anger. He walked towards the slayer with a predatory gleam in his eye. Adrian fell to the floor with no one holding him up anymore, barely conscious he picked up the discarded knife. "Hermione," he called, "Catch"

Hermione neatly caught it and waited for Kakistos to approach, armed with just her stake and the knife. She briefly wished she knew how to use a knife better. She had instincts, but little practice. She stabbed out wildly as the large vampire attacked.

Kakistos screamed as the knife cut straight into his eye. He stumbled back slightly clutching his eye and Hermione used this tiny moment of confusion to thrust her stake into his chest. She breathed a sight of relief and turned to Adrian.

"Adrian?" she asked, hoping desperately for a response as she searched for his pulse. His eyes blinked open and she smiled. "It's going to be OK, he's dead." She told her watcher. "Can you walk?" she asked as she tried to help him up. He was soaked with blood and she didn't even notice as it soaked through onto her own clothes.

"Hermione?" he asked. His eyes were struggling to focus.

"Come on Adrian, we'll get you to a hospital"

A look of fear passed over her watchers face as his eyes focused behind her. "Run" he chocked out.

Hermione turned around and her eyes widened in surprise. "I think you need a bigger stake bitch" he said as he pulled the piece of wood out of his chest.

Hermione scrambled back and fell on top of her watcher. She looked down at his open eyes that were now just staring into space, but didn't have time to check if he was really dead yet. She climbed off him and turned and ran as fast as she could, not even looking back to see if she was being followed.

> > > > > >

AN: I know Kakistos actually had a run in with Faith, but she's not going to be around in my story, so I borrowed her big bad. I also don't know if we found out anything about Kakistos killing slayers before but he's a big bad old guy, so if Angel and Spike can do it, he must be able to.

Just for the record I know this chapter is bad, Hermione took out the vamps too easily, Kakistos stood around with a stake hanging out for too long, and the Adrian death scene was no way as dramatic as I would have liked. However, this is the best your gonna get unless I suddenly get inspiration to completely rewrite this chapter, which I doubt I will. So deal.

Lastly sorry I killed Adrian, I liked him, and I really wanted to do more with him but I had to kill him. He just didn't fit at Hogwarts, not when there's already a watcher on the staff.


	6. 6: Day in Hell

Sorry it's short, but hey at least it was quick this time. This story will be 9 chapters. Chapter eight is finished; chapter nine needs a little revision. Chapter seven is going a little slow but I'm getting there.

>>>>>

I arrived back at the Leaky Cauldron last night soaked in my watchers blood with the knife that killed him in my hand. I knew I had to sneak back in, but I wasn't sure I had the energy or the willpower. I wanted to be found, I didn't want to hide. Maybe they would find the body as well and know it was me.

I pushed those thoughts out of my mind. Adrian had not just died so I could be sent to Azkabam and live out my life behind bars. It did occur to me though that I'd probably live longer in Azkabam then I would out of it.

So I used the last bit of energy I had to sneak past the guards patrolling the Leaky Cauldron for Harry's protection and I made my way to mine and Ginny's room. I went into the small bathroom and washed the mix of Kakistos and Adrian's blood. I stripped of my blood soaked clothes and burnt them in the fireplace. Then finally I showered, scrubbing all the blood off me. When my skin was red from the burning hot water and scrubbing too hard I turned off the water and collapsed at the bottom of the shower, my tears seemed to fall as fast and hard as the hot water just a few moments before until I fell into an easy nightmare filled sleep.

It was Ginny who woke me up, shouting at me to hurry up in the bathroom with no idea how long I had really been there. I got out, and checked my face, making sure it didn't look to puffy from all the crying.

I didn't even try to smile as I walked past. I just kept my head down and tried not to catch her eye.

"Forgot your not a morning person" mumbled Ginny as she went into the bathroom.

'You wouldn't be either' I thought, 'if you spent every night hunting vampires till early morning'

I saw Ginny's trunk sitting with most of her stuff already in it, just a few bits and pieces lying around. Mine was sitting next to my bed in quite a similar state, although I hadn't been quite sure where I was going to take it. I was hoping everything would be clearer this morning; that I would know without I doubt whether or not to go back to school.

I had been right. I didn't feel like I had a choice. If I told everyone I was not going to school then what would I do? Adrian was dead and I had no idea how to contact the other watchers. I knew there was a council, but Adrian had never told me where they were, it was never important. Besides, getting on a train and going to a school that was supposedly impossible to find unless you knew where you were going didn't sound like a bad idea.

I had staked that vampire. I put the stake into his heart and he didn't die. Why not? What would it take to actually kill him? I don't want to know. I just wanted to get the hell out of London to a place where he couldn't find her. Hogwarts was meant to be the safest place in Britain; I might just test that theory.

The journey to Hogwarts was unbearable. Even Harry who had been depressed all summer had cheered up slightly today, ready to go back to school. I couldn't even pretend to smile and be happy. Not today. I hated seeing everybody else so cheerful, wanted to scream at them to stop laughing so long after Adrian had died. But I couldn't, I had to sit there and suffer.

The others played exploding snap and wizarding chess. They ate all the snacks off the trolley and tried to include me in the fun. I shut my eyes and tried to pretend to sleep, God knows I didn't get enough last night. But there was no point. Every time I shut my eyes I saw Adrian. His lifeless body seems to be imprinted on the back of eye lids and every time I think about it's like I can still feel his blood, like I'm soaked in it. I guess I just have his blood in my hands.

At dinner I didn't eat. I just pushed my food around, I couldn't understand how everybody else could carry on joking and laughing, what the hell was there to laugh about? Ron obviously didn't notice my discomfort, too absorbed in all the food in front of him. Harry noticed, he asked if I was alright and accepted my short nod in reply.

As I sat there contemplating the idea that these last twenty four hours had probably been the worst of my life the impossible happened, they got worse.

Professor Snape left the teachers table and came over, walking purposefully towards the Gryffindor table. He stopped when he reached the part where my Ron and Harry were sitting. "Miss Granger, could you please report to my office straight after dinner so that we can discuss my replacement of Mr Grant"

He left before I could comment. I just sat there shell shocked until I could form the only two words on my mind. "Fucking hell!" I said.

"Hermione!" exclaimed Ron shocked. "And you're always having a go at me for swearing!"

"Sometimes Ron" I told him, "The situation warrants it OK?"

So there you have it. My day in hell. I lost watcher, let him die and then left him as I ran. I hid the whole thing from friends and then got the worse new possible, my new watcher is none other than Severus Snape. This is not going to be a good year.


	7. 7: Do or Die

AN: I am soooo, sorry about how long this has taken, especially when I promised it would be quick, I've just been so snowed under for the last few months with school and re sits and work I haven't had time to finish off this chapter.

I have most of the next coupled of chapters (the last two) written but I can't promise they'll be up any time soon.

Fingers crossed I'll get a chance over the Easter holiday. If I don't go made from revision that is.

Chapter Seven:

I hate Snape. The stupid bastard has been training me for two months now. That means for the last two months I've had to go and spend at least an hour in the training room he set up in one of the rooms in the dungeons while he throws knives at me in between abuse every single day. He escorts me out of Hogwarts then apparates us to various vampire hotspots, or just lets me loose in the forbidden forest almost every night and he's still an annoying greasy git.

I don't want favouritism from him but could he at least act like I'm something more than something stuck to his shoe. He knows exactly what I have to go through, he's the only one that does, and he actually seems to enjoy tormenting me with it.

All my teachers have noticed my decline in standard. I can't exactly help it though. I have to train everyday, slay every night, attend my classes, do all my homework and sleep. That takes up a lot more hours than I have in the day, I would kill to have that time turner back this year. Literally.

Harry and Ron have been annoying me this term too. I've been acting differently for two whole months, I hardly have any time for them, and the only time they notice is when I slept through a lesson and they want to borrow my notes. I know I can't tell my friends and I should be glad they don't suspect anything, but I just seem to hate them for not noticing what I'm going through. I feel so alone, I just want to talk to someone other than Snape about it. I can't help but think as well that, Adrian would have been nicer about it. He would have helped me, tried to make me feel better, Snape would never try and make me feel better, he goes out of his way to make me feel worse, every day.

Snape actually seems to be harder on me about homework. He's the only teacher in the whole damn school who actually knows why I'm acting differently and he's harder on me. Yesterday was the worst though. We had something of a shouting match in the middle of potions. He'd made me spend an extra two hours practicing with a sword so I hadn't actually had time to write his essay. Try explaining that to him.

"You don't have your essay Miss Granger" he stated, pretty obvious, it was what I'd just said to him

"I didn't have time" praying for once he'd just go easy on me

"Make time" he said. We'd finished at two that morning, I was exhausted, what the hell did he expect? My temper was rising a little.

"Make me" I challenged

"Don't get full of yourself Granger; you still have much to learn. Mr Grant may have had the utmost faith in you, but I have a feeling he was wrong"

"Don't talk about him that way" I said, he didn't deserve to get to talk about Adrian, Adrian was so much better than him.

"What way?" he asked

"Like he meant nothing"

"He failed". He replied simply.

"I thought his failure was measured by my life, and if I'm still here then he didn't die failing." I said, remembering what Adrian had told me about most watchers outliving their slayers. That many were considered failures for this reason.

"Rest assured Miss Granger I would rather live and fail than die to succeed. You are just one silly little girl in a whole line of them and when your time is up some other girl will come and sit in your seat and the world will not know the difference. Are we clear?"

"Crystal" I said, I picked up my bag and walked out of his class, much to the confusion of everybody else who'd had no idea what the hell we were talking about.

Harry later told me I'd been given a detention that night. In Snape language that meant a training session where he'd throw lots of sharp things at me and hope I didn't move out of the way in time. I didn't go, and I ignored the first year who was sent to remind me. In fact, I caught up with some homework and went to bed reasonably early, it was great.

I woke up this morning feeling better than I had in a few days. Better still Professor Snape wasn't in Breakfast, so I managed to enjoy that meal. I had double transfiguration first thing, I'd done the essay that was due so I enjoyed the lesson today as I didn't have McGonagall looking at me disapprovingly all lesson.

I managed to get through the entire day without seeing Snape, and I took it as a good sign. Unfortunately the last lesson of the day was potions.

"Hermione" called Harry just as I set off towards the dungeons. "We don't have potions now" he told me grinning ear to ear.

"Why not?"

"Dunno? One of the lower years told me, Snape hasn't taught all day, there's a note attached to his door saying all lessons are cancelled. Ron and I are gonna go play chess, wanna come?"

I did. I wanted to go play chess, do some homework and ignore Snape. But I knew I couldn't, something was wrong. "I can't" I told Harry. "I'll catch up with you later" I went down to the dungeon, the knowledge that something was wrong getting stronger with every step I took.

Sure enough on the door to the potions room was a hurriedly scribbled note in Snape's handwriting saying that all lessons were cancelled. I knocked politely on the door, when that didn't work I knocked harder.

"Can't you read Granger? Professor Snape isn't teaching today" said Draco Malfoy as he approached the door.

"I need to speak to him about something. What are you doing here?"

"That's none of your business" he said leaning against the wall.

I was about to respond when I caught a whiff of something bad. I could smell dried blood from the other side of that door. I drew my wand, "alohomara" I said aiming at the lock.

"That was stupid" said Malfoy. "Trying to break into a classroom with a prefect present"

"I am a prefect Malfoy" I replied, getting pissed off, I needed to get in. "Know any lock picking spells?" I asked

He frowned, confused at why I would ask him. "None that would get through Snape's defences, there are dangerous ingredients in there, did you really think a first year level spell would work?"

"I guess not. I don't suppose you're gonna be leaving any time soon?" I asked hopefully.

"No" said Malfoy, enjoying annoying me. I sighed, I had to get in there and there was only one way I could think of brute force.

"Don't say I didn't warn you" I muttered, then gathering all my strength I kicked the door off the hinges.

"What the fuck?" said Malfoy; his mouth was wide open as he stared at me in shock.

I didn't have time to bother with him. I walked into the room; sure enough there was a large patch of drying blood on the desk. The papers were thrown everywhere, and the ink pot was smashed, the blue merging with the red in odd patterns.

"What does that mean?" asked Malfoy, looking at the chalk board.

The red writing wasn't chalk and it wasn't red paint this time either. It was blood, and I knew in the pit of my stomach it was Snape's blood. I read it and the knot in my stomach tightened until I emptied my breakfast on the floor.

I tried to kid myself that that note was from someone else, but I knew who K, was. "I owe you one bitch, the watcher is alive for now, but unless you come to the 'Shrieking Shack' soon he joins the last one, K"

Malfoy turned to me. "It's for you isn't it?" he asked, already knowing the answer. I just nodded. "So what does it mean?"

"It means, we have to get out of here, repair the door, and you have to shut up until at least morning."

"Not gonna happen Granger. I want an explanation now! Where's Snape?"

"The Shrieking Shack I hope" I replied, I had to satisfy him here. I needed time to arm myself and get out of school before anybody came looking for me. I'd preferably like to return with a living watcher before anybody noticed I was gone.

"So you're gonna go get him?" he asked, not really believing it.

"I have to, and I don't have a hell of a lot of time. He didn't give a time limit, it just said soon, the notes been up all day so…" realisation dawned on me. They were vampires, they came when they could safely get in and out in darkness. "He was taken last night. Sometime before dawn, he's been there all day, dear God; they might have killed him already." I took a deep breath. I didn't have time to panic, I could freak out later, now was a time for acting. "Draco" I tried using his first name, after all I was about to beg. "You're head of house is gone, he's hurt but I may be able to save his life. I'm the only one that can because they want me. He's just the bait. If you or anybody else stops me and I don't get to them he will die. No ifs, no maybes, he will die a painful death, I've seen it. I know what they'll do. I'm going now. Just give me half an hour to get the hell out this school safely" I turned and walked out of the classroom. I didn't have time to argue, he'd either do it or not, and if not I needed a head start.

"You've got till morning" he called. "If you fuck this up you're dead Granger"

I turned to look at him. He was trying to be menacing, he wouldn't kill me though, I could see it, he's not the killing type. I smiled, and it wasn't a happy smile. "You have no idea"


	8. 8: Kakistos, Again

Hows that for Speed!

I was gonna have a few more filler chapters but I couldn't think of much to put in them, and I didn't really want to write them so they would have taken forever and been really bad, so I thought I'd just get onto the good (I hope) stuff.

Btw, more fight scenes, I've said it before, I'll say it again, I hate them, I'm crap at them, but I still need them in the story.

Chapter 8: Kakistos, Again

I arrived and saw him there, exactly as I remembered him, tall, imposing, butt ugly, and standing over my watcher, ready to start cutting chunks out of him.

"Kakistos" I called with courage I really didn't have.

He turned and smiled, and the smile looked all the worse on that face. I hadn't realised I had done so much damage last time but his eye was gone and then was a long jagged scar down his face where I had dragged the knife to get it out, I think I know why he hates me so much now. "Hermione, so glad you could make it"

"Guess vamp healing ain't all it's cracked up to be" I commented. I swear I saw Snape roll his eyes from where he was on the floor.

"There's that wit again. You didn't sound so big and clever crying out for your last watcher" he smiled when he saw how the comment affected me. I tried to cover up my feelings with a blank mask, but I've never been good at that. "You know," he mused "I'm almost tempted to let you live, just so you can live with the guilt of letting another one die"

"Don't go to any trouble, Snape and I don't get on that well. He doesn't even let me off for late homework because I've been slaying"

Kakistos carried on as if I hadn't spoken. "Who knows, between the two of us we could set a new record for the most amount of watchers assigned to one slayer. Of course, I'm only almost tempted. I think I'd rather just see you dead, but I'm going to have to cut your eyes out first, nothing personal, just revenge"

"Isn't revenge personal?" I asked. I was terrified now and trying not to let it show. Why the hell had I come? It's true; I don't like Snape all that much. I knew he wouldn't thank me, and yet here I was facing down the thing of nightmares, my nightmares for a man who wouldn't even let me hand my homework in late.

He smiled; well it was more of a twisted smirk with a promise of pain really. "Don't kill her, leave that finale to me" he said to the five other vampires in the room. "Just wear her down a bit; I wanna see her sweat first"

I hadn't been expecting this; I wanted to go straight into a fight with him. I was full of fear fuelled adrenaline and I just wanted it to be over. I could take five vampires, and I might even be able to take Kakistos, but I couldn't do both in one night. I was gonna die, and it looked like I was gonna take my potions professor with me.

I can't even remember what happened next. The fight was a blur with me too busy trying to survive to notice what I was doing. I fought them though, I kicked, punched and staked until I was surrounded by five piles of dust and too much of my own blood. There were more vampires around now, but Kakistos had seen enough, he wanted to fight. I was worn out, struggling to catch my breath and bleeding too much. I felt a mixture of fear that he felt the need to have me beaten down before he'd fight me, a pure terror that I was too beaten down to do any more damage to anyone but myself. But I fought him.

It was useless, I went to hit him and he blocked it, he hit me and I flew across the room. At some point in my beating I came to my senses and ran. I ducked into another room; I knew this had been a bad idea. What the hell was I supposed to do now, I didn't have a ten foot stake on me, and I didn't' know how else to kill him. Then something really weird happened. A blonde girl appeared beside me and not just any blonde girl.

"Buffy?" I whispered. She looked as surprised to be there as I was to see her, but neither of us had time to question it.

"You're about to break the first rule of slaying" she whispered to me.

"The first rule?" I asked

"Yeah, don't die. You don't have to be one or the other you know. You can be a slayer and a witch. So get your wand out, stop using it as a multi purpose stake and use your mojo to beat the bad guy" she passed me my knife. The one that Kakistos has used to kill Adrian, it had filled my with disgust to even pick the thing up again, but somehow I knew bringing it tonight was the right thing to do.. "Remember, staking isn't the only way to kill a vampire"

I stared at the knife in my hand for a minute, then my lips curved up as a plan formed. I got my wand out and muttered a quick spell. The knife in my hand grew until it looked more like a sword. "Wish me luck" I said as I rose. I don't know if she replied or if she was gone already but I didn't wait to find out. I came running out at the vampire. He was unarmed and over confident, but he still put up a fight. He batted me into a wall with ease. I lay at the foot as he neared me; I winced as I tried to move the arm that the sword was in. I put all the fear I could muster into my face as he pulled me up so I was standing still at least a foot below him.

"I'm going to enjoy this" he said, he pulled out a small knife if his own, clearly intent on fulfilling his promise about my eyes.

"So am I" I replied as I pulled the sword up and across his neck before he noticed. It seemed he hadn't even realised I was holding the thing. He had enough time for his surprise to turn to anger before he crumpled into ash.

I smiled. His minions had run during the battle, but so had Buffy, as I looked around for her I realised she was nowhere to be seen. I pushed all thoughts of the other slayer out of her mind as I went to help my watcher.

I helped Snape back to his rooms in the dungeon. I had suggested taking him to the hospital wing, but he insisted that as the maker of all her potions he had most of them in his rooms, so there was no need to raise suspicion. He didn't speak to me after that, not even a thanks for facing my worst fear to save his life. Stupid greasy git.

"Hermione?" asked Professor McGonagall. "Where were you during yesterday's transfiguration lesson? And the rest of your lessons that day"

I thought as quickly as I could but was coming up with a blank. I was about to make up a very weak excuse about being ill but not wanting to trouble Madam Pomfrey when something very strange happened.

"That was my fault" said Snape appearing as if from nowhere, or rather whatever shadow he happened to be lurking in, I swear the man would make a better vampire than most of the ones I slay. "As you know I was incapacitated yesterday, but I needed some potions made urgently. Hermione is a 'capable' student" he spat out the word capable. "I assumed she would not make so many mistakes as most of the dunderheads I teach. Of course it turned out I was wrong and I'll have to do them all over again. I should have asked a first year to do it; I probably would have gotten better results"

I tried to hide my smile at this. Snape had actually stood up for me for once. He'd done it his own way and insulted me so nobody actually realised he was doing me a favour, but it's still an improvement. Who knows, one of these days he might be able to do it without the insults.

McGonagall didn't look completely convinced at first but the withering look Snape shot me before disappearing along the corridor seemed to seal it. "Very well" she said to me. "Make sure you catch up on the work you missed"

Left alone in the hall I let the smile out. Snape was not Adrian, I realised that, he would never be, but he was my watcher, and that wasn't a fate worse that death.

-------

I had this other idea on how Hermione killed Kakistos that I really liked so I just thought I'd tell you. She was gonna throw a stake at him and he was going to be all cocky thinking it wouldn't kill him, then she would put a charm on it to make it grow big enough to kill him. Then I decided it would be better if she killed him with the knife that he used to kill Adrian, just because it has more meaning

Just re read the chapter- it's kinda short-sorry bout that.

On another note, please review!


	9. 9: Becoming

This may seem short, but you have all seen Becoming. Just fill in the gaps in your head (remember to leave out Kendra though). Couple of little changes to accommodate for the fact that Kendra doesn't exist in my world.

--

I woke up confused as hell. I had been there; Hermione had seen me, taken my advice and killed the bad guy. But as soon as she had turned away from me I wasn't really there, I was just a spectator seeing everything but not being able to interfere, as I usually was. The other strange thing is that she knew me. If Hermione is my predecessor, how did she know who I was? It makes no sense, did I time travel, that's just freaky, if I time travelled shouldn't I have I dunno, been aware of it?

The whole Hermione thing was quickly forgotten today though as my world fell apart. I was stupid, I let Angel trick me, I went to fight him when all he wanted was Giles. I should have killed him then. Instead I ran to see my mistakes. When I got to the library I found the council guy lying on the floor. He was a young English guy, early twenties, not bad looking for a watcher actually. He came to deliver the sword from the Watchers Council in England, the sword that whistler told me I would have to use to kill my lover.

It was when I knelt over checking for a pulse that the police arrived with Principal Snyder in tow. I had to fight them off, I had no choice. Obeying the law would be pointless if I let the world get sucked into hell. So I ran from the law on murder charges.

I found out that Giles had been kidnapped and Willow almost killed. So I set out to do the only thing I could. Kill Angelus. Seeing Willow so badly hurt and knowing Giles could soon me dead made me understand beyond belief that my Angel was dead, and Angelus needed to follow. So I took the sword and head for the mansion. The run up is all a blur. The only thing I really remembering is fighting Angelus and Angelus winning.

I sat on the floor unarmed as he taunted me. "No weapons, no friends, no hope" he said.

Behind him there was a shimmer in the air. Then a girl my own age was standing there. She looked a little disorientated but she gave me a smile. "Don't die" she mouthed.

"Take all that away and what's left?" he asked.

Hermione just gave me a knowing smile. I shut my eyes and caught the blade between my hands as he thrust it down in a killing blow. I pushed it back into his head and the fight continued.

Just when I had the advantage and I knew I could win he fell to his knees without warning. There was a glow and then Angelus was gone. My Angel was back, but it was too late. Hell was opening behind him, and I knew what I had to do. Knowing didn't help. I froze until I felt a hand on my shoulder. She was there again, Hermione. She gave me a sad smile. "You have to" she said softly.

I nodded uncertainly. I kissed my lover goodbye, then I damned him to hell. I turned and fell into Hermione's arms. Hermione who shouldn't rightly be there, who technically wasn't, and in less than a minute who really wasn't there. She disappeared as quickly as she came.

A few hours later as I sat on the first bus leaving Sunnydale I fell into an uneasy sleep as a result of the exhaustion of the last couple of days. I saw Hermione wake up, she was lying on her bed in a jeans and t-shirt, looking exhausted, she must have come in late and fallen asleep in her clothes, something I could relate to. The strange thing was it was the same jeans and t-shirt she'd been wearing when she came to me. She looked at the shoulder of the white top and saw that there was a damp patch, like somebody had been crying on it.

She gave it a puzzled look then decided she was going crazy and changed her clothes before going down to breakfast. As she sat down she picked up the Daily Prophet, what I figured to be the wizarding world's daily paper. What I saw there shocked me so badly that I woke up with a start.

I must have sat up sharply because the woman in the seat behind me gave me a concerned look. I couldn't believe it though, it was impossible, that paper must have been wrong, because what I'd seen was today's date.

That could mean only one thing. Hermione wasn't a past slayer. She was alive and slaying right now, and she was out there somewhere. I needed to find her.

--

My spell check no longer likes this story so I'm really sorry about any mistakes. For some reason it won't accept certain words at all, (short, common words, I swear I'm not just being stupid).

As I said. This story is now finished. For the record, this is in no way a cop out. I always planned to finish it this way. A sequel was (and still is) planned for when Buffy and Hermione meet, but it will be in a different style, rather than first person, and dreaming each others lives. It may not be out anytime soon. So don't hold your breath, but it will be written. Some day, some how. For now:


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